US pipeline companies merge

US pipeline company Energy Transfer Equity announced its $37.7-billion acquisition of local competitor Williams.

“As a combined company, we will have enhanced prospects for growth, be better able to connect our customers to more diverse markets, and have more stability in an environment of low commodity prices,” Williams CEO Alan Armstrong said in a press release.

Together, the companies control transportation for more than 15 percent of US crude and 30 percent of the country’s gas, making the new corporation the largest pipeline company and the third-largest oil company in the US, after ExxonMobil and Chevron. Together the companies will operate a pipeline grid stretching 167,371 kilometres across North America.

In acquiring Williams, Energy Transfer Equity will gain stakes in the Gulf of Mexico and the Marcellus shale play, adding to its portfolio of natural gas and crude holdings on the Gulf coast and the Midwest.

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